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Strange drill projectile I. 13pdr case

R

Rrickoshae

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
Good morning, firstly I hope you all had a very good xmas. Having got the pleasantries out the way, down to business!
This strange drill projectile came crimped into a Blank 13pdr case. At first I thought was just a mis-marriage of a conveniently spare case. But the case had a wood insert as you might see in a drill round although it is stamped BLANK not DRILL.
although the shape of the projectile is reminiscent of some Italian or Belgian shells, the drive band looks very 13/18pdr.
Does anyone have any thoughts?

many thanks, Dave
 

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ydnum303 said:
The primer looks Canadian, from the markings. Any stampings on the shell?
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Yes it does Roger. But no markings on the projectile. I guess that the shape at the top is supposed to represent the fuze with its cap on. The shell is filled with resin similar to that which would have been used to hold shrapnel balls in a shrapnel round
 
Comparing this to a 13pdr HE shell, the similarities are obvious. I can only surmise that this is a 13pdr drill round, utilising a 13pdr Blank case. Perhaps it was originally stencilled DRILL
 

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The Primer lookslike it could have had a rod up through it or it's simply damage ?
Something would have been in place to hold it all together if this were correct.
But I think the case is a blank case and this is a marriage.
The drill projectile has a crimp groove and on a 13pr this indicates (to me) that it is intended for the
13pr 6cwt AA case, the necked down 18pr case. These are crimped and a good all round crimp would
do well to hold this in place (if there are no other signs of attachment on the projectile). The regular 13 pr case as you have is not crimped and the projectiles
for those have no groove. I think if you put it in an AA case it will be proper as proper as one can get now at anyrate.
You have to also concider the early 13pr loaded 3" 20cwt as well - just to make things worse of course. :eek:
 
It’s been suggested that this more likely to be an ‘inert instructional’ round rather than a drill which would also explain the absence of scratches to the projectile
 
Gspragge said:
The Primer lookslike it could have had a rod up through it or it's simply damage ?
Something would have been in place to hold it all together if this were correct.
But I think the case is a blank case and this is a marriage.
The drill projectile has a crimp groove and on a 13pr this indicates (to me) that it is intended for the
13pr 6cwt AA case, the necked down 18pr case. These are crimped and a good all round crimp would
do well to hold this in place (if there are no other signs of attachment on the projectile). The regular 13 pr case as you have is not crimped and the projectiles
for those have no groove. I think if you put it in an AA case it will be proper as proper as one can get now at anyrate.
You have to also concider the early 13pr loaded 3" 20cwt as well - just to make things worse of course. :eek:
Click to expand...
Fair points. The case was originally manufactured in 1904 but then something was done to it again in 1911. The case is properly crimped and this did hold the projectile but a little loosely. The threaded hole in the primer was where it was attached to a wood base for display.
 
If this was used in a decorative way the wash could be later and not original. If by some odd chance
this was used shipboard then the wash might make some sense. As insrtuctional still in a case it would have been
perhaps white painted ? Or painted to simulate a real one. But one might think for this a real one would be used as this
has an odd shape. More questions than answerrs ~
 
Gspragge said:
If this was used in a decorative way the wash could be later and not original. If by some odd chance
this was used shipboard then the wash might make some sense. As insrtuctional still in a case it would have been
perhaps white painted ? Or painted to simulate a real one. But one might think for this a real one would be used as this
has an odd shape. More questions than answerrs ~
Click to expand...
True and having now chipped out the resin filling there were only 2 more shrapnel balls about midway along the shell! There to bring it to full service weight I imagine.
 
tigbrand said:
Hi dave, hers the 2 pdr with similar plug fuze. T
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Oo, nice Tony! I was quite surprised that none of the more experienced members didn’t reply straightaway with the answer and just underline how little I really know after 65years of collecting! But perhaps it’s fairly rare. No doubt somebody will want it!
Dave
 
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